


The Light Of The Sun

by JustYourAverageWhovian



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: BAMF!Merlin, Bromance, Canon - TV, Family, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Knights love Merlin, Merlin goes Dragonlord, SO MUCH BROMANCE, The Knights of the Round Table - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-04
Updated: 2013-01-04
Packaged: 2017-11-23 16:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/624063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustYourAverageWhovian/pseuds/JustYourAverageWhovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a peasant reports a sighting of a white dragon on the outskirts of a nearby village, Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table head off to defeat it, with Merlin in tow. It is his duty as the last dragon lord to protect the dragon, but can he do that while keeping his secrets unrevealed? Includes EPIC BROMANCES</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> So I posted this first on fanfiction.net and it was incredibly popular, so I figured I'd put it on here too! Please enjoy and thank you to all my supporters back home!

Jared had had enough. As head of his village, he was expected to do the majority of the hunting. But during the autumn months, when the leaves lay browning on the forest floor, it was near impossible for anything to be caught. The offending leaves crackled and cracked as Jared’s worn brown boots touched them, and gave warning to anything in hearing distance. He was also pretty sure he was coming down with his first cold of the year, sniffling despite the warm autumn sunshine shining on his back.   
After a while of walking and muttering incoherently he sat down on a log and listened to the silence fall over the forest. He watched contentedly as more leaves fell slowly and lazily towards the bed of brown below them. Suddenly, the silence was cracked by the snap of a twig and a squawk, coming from behind him. Jared turned his head slowly, observing the forest for the creator of the noise. Soon, his gaze fell upon a small white dragon. Shock pulsated through him as he gaped open-mouthed at the sight in front of him. The dragon chirped happily at Jared then turned and trotted off in the direction of the caves above them. Jared, unfreezing from his recent terrified position, stood up and followed the creature. His mind was reeling with many questions. What is a dragon doing here? I thought there were no more? His mind fell upon the subject of the attack of the great dragon on Camelot, of the suffering it caused, the death and despair. His king and prince had put much effort into ridding the world of these awful creatures, not one dared roam the lands? Prince – now King – Arthur himself had slayed what was thought to be the last dragon, putting himself and his knights at great risk of death.   
Jared watched as the dragon jumped and began to fly, heading along the cliff edge to the caves. Glaring, Jared pulled at his prized possession, the town’s only crossbow, and settled behind a log.  
Holding his breath, he pulled the arrow back and let it fly.


	2. An Impossible Request

The day had started off rather well for King Arthur’s manservant, Merlin. After getting the morning off so that Arthur and his faithful Queen Guinevere could spend some time together, he got a well needed lie in before heading to the Arthur’s chambers to prepare him for training that afternoon. Training, for the most part, was a rather enjoyable experience for Merlin. It usually entailed sitting around and fetching weapons for the knights and Arthur and occasionally, very occasionally, taking part. Every now and again, Merlin was reminded of when he had only just become Arthur’s manservant and Arthur’s tendencies to beat him to a pulp in training. But now Arthur was a lot nicer to him in that respect, so fetching and carrying was his new job.   
This seemed to be just another one of those days where everything went alright. Until of course Sir Leon came thundering into the training field, only to skid to a stop alarmingly close to the King himself.  
“Arthur, sire, we need to go to council chambers immediately. Someone has requested an audience with you, apparently it’s urgent.” Arthur nodded and called for his most faithful knights to follow him back up to the castle. Merlin had to jog to keep up with his master.  
“Just when we thought it would be a quiet day...” Arthur chuckled and Merlin nodded in agreement.   
“What do you think it is sire?” Merlin asked Arthur, watching Sir Leon’s hastily retreating form in front of them.  
“Not a clue, I just hope for all our sakes it isn’t...Morgana.” Merlin shuddered. Arthur was right about that, the city was still recovering from the last attack Morgana staged which was almost a year ago. When they finally arrived at the citadel, the pair, along with Sir Leon, Sir Gwaine, Sir Elyan and Sir Percival, entered the council chambers.   
Queen Guinevere was looking lovely as per usual, sitting on her throne at the end of the room, smiling down at the man in front of her. Arthur jogged the rest of the space and bent down to give Gwen a quick peck before going round behind his throne and leaning on the back. Merlin took his place, just behind Arthur and the rest of the knights assembled alongside the walls where Gaius and Sir Leon stood.  
“Sire.” The man in front of them bowed low at the King before standing tall again and clasping his hands behind him. His stance and posture said proud, but his scruffy clothes and matted beard said peasant. His brown eyes were warm and kind, he must have been about thirty or forty.  
“What is your name?” Gwen asked the man politely. She seemed to like this man, despite his abrupt arrival.  
“My name is Jared, m’lady. I come from a small village just north from here.”  
“What can we do for you today, Jared? My knight, Sir Leon, told me my presence was required urgently.” Arthur seemed to settle and sat down on his throne, hands clasped in his lap.   
“Sire, I am the head of my village. As we only have one crossbow it is up to me to get the majority of the hunt, just last week I was on one of these hunts. I was having a tough time getting anything of worth, so I sat down and as I did, I heard this...chirping sound, sire, like a strange bird.” The entire room was leaning forward in suspense, Merlin mused that this man probably made a pretty good storyteller. He was making a hunting sound interesting, for goodness sake! “I turned my head, and there I saw it. Right behind me. I followed it through the woods, and then attempted to shoot it with my crossbow, only to have the arrow bounce straight off it like it were made of wood.”  
“What was it?” Sir Leon questioned.  
“A dragon sire, a small white dragon.”   
Gwen gasped, throwing her hands over her mouth. Sir Leon dropped his sword in shock. The Knights of the Round Table shared worried looks. Merlin started supporting a wonderful pale white colour. Arthur scowled. And Gaius? Gaius raised his eyebrow.  
“Are you sure Jared?” Gaius asked, tilting his head. “There are no more dragons. Arthur killed the last one when he was a prince.”   
“I know what I saw! It was a dragon. A little one, a baby, but still a dragon.” Jared sighed. He turned and addressed Arthur once again. “Sire, I worry for my fellow villagers. My children and my wife. The destruction the last dragon caused was awful, I do not wish for that fate to fall on my people. You did kill the last one, could you not come out and help us defeat this one, for the safety of the kingdom?” All eyes fell on Arthur, curiosity and worry in each and everyone. Well, except for Merlin and Gaius, who were having some form of conversation through shakes and nods of the head. After a moment’s thought, Arthur spoke up.  
“Yes. How far away is your village?”  
“Only a day’s ride sire.”   
“I will take my best men with me at dawn tomorrow. Leon, Gwaine, Elyan, Percival, sort yourselves out for tomorrow, get some rest. Merlin, go and show Jared to one of the guest rooms. He shall ride out with us tomorrow.” With a frown at Gaius, Merlin escorted Jared out of the chambers.   
Later on that evening, Merlin finally arrived back in his and Gaius room. A slam of the door alerted Gaius to his presence, followed by the stomping of a displeased young man into his room. With a sigh, Gaius followed Merlin in to find him hastily packing his things.   
“I suppose you’re going with them then?” Gaius asked, placing a comforting hand on Merlin’s shoulder. The manservant tensed then relaxed, turning to look at his guardian.   
“Of course I am. How could I not? I have to protect Aithusa, it’s my duty.”  
“And how are you going to do that exactly?” Gaius raised his eyebrow. Seriously, Merlin thought, if I could just take the eyebrows of his forehead and place them on a wall somewhere, where they could never move again...  
“I don’t know. I just know that...I have to protect her. I have to. Maybe it’s time Arthur knew the truth.” Gaius’ other eyebrow joined it’s partner. “Well, part of the truth.”   
“Just don’t do anything foolish Merlin.”  
“Oh you know me, I’m never foolish!” Merlin said cheerily.   
And with that, Gaius’ eyebrows were so high up it would be a wonder anyone saw them ever again.


	3. Of Tall Tales and Crafty Manservants

“Merlin!”  
The castle and its occupants were awoken from their slumber by the cry of their king. Queen Guinevere, the only member to already be awake, smiled as she strolled through Camelot’s courtyard. Meanwhile, in Arthur’s chambers, said king and his manservant were having a argument/wrestling match with the aim of getting Arthur Pendragon out of his bed.   
“Wakey wakey princess!” Merlin called, while heaving his master out of the bed by his arms. “Big day today, we’re going dragon-hunting aren’t we?”  
“I’m not a child Merlin,” Arthur sighed, standing up and walking behind the screen to get changed. “I don’t need encouraging.”  
“Of course Arthur, not a child. Just a grumpy, tantrum-having king that doesn’t like to get out of bed. Not a child at all.” Merlin chucked and passed Arthur his clothes.  
“What have we said about you being funny Merlin?” Arthur said patronisingly.  
“That I shouldn’t!” Merlin agreed, grinning as they continued their banter. Arthur shook his head fondly and walked out from behind the screen to observe his friend. “Right, so they knights should be up anytime now, they’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes in the courtyard, apart from Gwaine that is, he was at the tavern last night. I’ll go and fetch my stuff now if that’s okay with you then I’ll suit you up and- What?” Merlin stopped and looked at Arthur, who was observing Merlin with a rather guilty smile on his face.  
“Merlin, you see, since we are going out to face a dragon...I just thought it would be better if you stayed behind this one time to stay with Gwen. It was only by pure luck that you survived last time, and it wouldn’t be fair to put you at risk again.” Arthur coughed, hiding his concern. “Gaius would be very displeased with me if I sent his ward off to his death.”  
“Arthur, I’m coming with you alright? Plus this time, it’s hardly dangerous considering it’s only a baby.” Merlin scowled, crossing his arms. “I’m coming with you, I’m your manservant. And I’m the only one who can cook half decently out of everyone going.”   
“Merlin...” Arthur frowned and put on his best kingly voice. “As your king I order you to stay here and keep your Queen company.” But Merlin was already walking away. Just as he was about to disappear behind the door, he turned around and said;  
“And when have I ever followed orders, sire?” He then strode out of the chambers and down the corridor.   
“Oh Merlin...what am I going to do with you.” Arthur sighed and followed him out.  
Twenty minutes later, and the knights and the Queen were watching with amusement while King Arthur and Merlin bickered about whether Merlin should go or not.  
“Merlin, I will pick you up and carry you away if need be.” Arthur said, trying to get in the way of Merlin packing his things on to his horse. Gwaine snorted at this and Merlin rolled his eyes.  
“Sure you will Arthur. That’ll look great won’t it? The mighty King Arthur, carrying his struggling manservant to his chambers.” The knights burst into howls of laughter and Arthur stuttered, trying to regain his composure.   
“I’ll...I’ll..” Merlin watched with amusement as the king struggled for threats. “I’ll arrest you!” Merlin raised an eyebrow.  
“No you won’t.”   
“I’ll fire you.” The group fell silent. The knights tutted quietly and sent the king dirty looks while the Queen frowned. Merlin looked up at Arthur, his big eyes full of hurt.  
“You’d really do that?” Merlin whispered, looking less like the most powerful warlock to ever walk the earth and more like a small child. Arthur stood up tall and tried not to wince and take back what he said.  
“Yes. If that’s what it would take.” He coughed and looked down at the floor, unable to face Merlin’s heartbroken gaze or the knights and the Queen’s disappointed glares.  
“Well then, since I no longer have a job, I may as well tag along with you lot then.” Merlin said cheerily to the knights before mounting his horse and galloping out of the courtyard with a crowd of chuckling knights in tow. Arthur watched open mouthed before turning to Gwen and looking at her desperately.   
“Jared headed off early this morning, said he was going to alert the villagers.” She nodded towards the gates leading out of Camelot. “You better go, wouldn’t want them to run off without you.” She laughed lightly and reached up to peck Arthur on the cheek. “Take care.”  
“You too.” Arthur grinned at his wife before mounting his horse and galloping after his knights. Not Merlin’s thank you very much.   
That evening, the group of knights, Arthur and a rather cheery Merlin stopped near a stream to give the horses a rest.  
“I think we should rest here, that way we should arrive at the village at dawn tomorrow well rested.” Arthur announced. The knights nodded in agreement and set about organizing their bed rolls for the evening. “Merlin, go fetch some firewood.” The no-longer-manservant chuckled and sat down.   
“I don’t work for you anymore, remember?” Merlin grinned at Arthur before standing up and stretching. “But, if you would care to ask me nicely, as a subject not a servant, I may do as you wish.” Arthur rolled his eyes and replied duly;  
“Merlin, as my kind subject, would you please fetch some firewood for me and my knights.” Gwaine, who was watching the conversation, chuckled.  
Merlin looked at Arthur and put on a thoughtful expression before answering, “No.” Gwaine at this point burst out laughing. Arthur was about to start shouting at Merlin again before Gwaine put his hand up to stop him.  
“Merlin mate, could you go and get some firewood please? I’m freezing.” Gwaine asked, grinning.  
“Of course Gwaine! I’ll do anything for my best friend.” Merlin teased before sticking his tongue out at Arthur and strolling into the forest.  
An hour later, the group were sitting around a campfire, enjoying their dinner that Percival had sweet talked- in a totally manly way- Merlin into making for them.  
“So,” Elyan began, “What happened to the Great Dragon? You slayed it didn’t you?” Elyan nodded towards Arthur and smiled.  
“Yeah, I believe we haven’t heard the story of the fantastic Arthur slaying the beast, have we?” Gwaine said teasingly, winking at Arthur.  
“Haha Gwaine.” Arthur chuckled before settling to retell the story. “Around three years ago, somebody released the Great Dragon from its prison under the castle. It wrecked havoc for many days. At a meeting Gaius told my father that there may be a dragonlord living who may be able to help us, so I volunteered to go alone to find him.”  
“What exactly is a dragonlord?” Elyan questioned. Arthur opened his mouth to answer Elyan’s question but Merlin beat him to it.  
“Dragonlords were a noble race of people who were kin to dragons. They possessed the power to control dragons such as the Great Dragon. During the Great Purge, Uther sought out and killed nearly all of the Dragonlords, as he associated them too closely in the realms of magic.” Arthur raised his eyebrow; surprised that Merlin was even that knowledgeable in the subject, but the manservant didn’t notice, as he was too busy staring into the dying embers of the campfire. “There was one left. That’s who we went to find. Balinor.” Merlin choked at the end of the sentence and Arthur’s gazed softened, remembering Merlin’s grief at Balinor’s death. The knights turned back to look at their king.  
“He agreed to help us, but before we could return to Camelot we were attacked and he was killed.” Arthur explained. Again his gaze fell upon Merlin who was staring at the floor like it was a lifeline. “In the end, my knights, Merlin and I rode out to slay the beast ourselves. I dealt it a fatal blow.” Silence fell between the group before Gwaine spoke up.  
“Arthur, I mean no offence here, but as far as I’m aware only Dragonlords can kill dragons.” Arthur looked at Gwaine quizzically.  
“He did kill it, I saw it.” Merlin spoke up, sounding urgent. Arthur nodded in agreement. “It was definitely mortally wounded.”   
Gwaine wasn’t convinced, either Arthur or Merlin was hiding something. So when Merlin creeped off in the middle of the night during his watch, Gwaine took it upon himself to follow him. That’s what friends are for, right?  
Merlin, however, was blissfully unaware of his follower as he jogged through the undergrowth. He had spotted a clearing not too far away from where they were camped, but far enough away not to awaken any of the knights. After a few minutes jogging Merlin came to abrupt halt by the outskirts of said clearing before turning his head to the skies and roaring to the heavens. After what felt like hours to Merlin but must have only been a few minutes, Kilgarrah landed gracefully in the centre of the clearing.   
“I’m assuming you need my assistance, young Dragonlord?”   
“Yes and no riddles this time. Arthur and the knights are going on a search for Aithusa; they’re going to kill him!” Merlin threw his hands up in the air with frustration. “How am I meant to protect Aithusa without revealing myself to Arthur? How am I meant to protect Arthur from himself?”  
“Merlin, you have little faith in the king. Arthur has developed his own beliefs and judgements; you must remember that he was there when Balinor saved your life.” Merlin shook his head.  
“I don’t think he’s ready to know the truth about me yet.”  
“Are you sure that it’s him that isn’t ready?” Kilgarrah raised a scaled eyebrow.  
“I...I have been hiding my entire life. Just revealing a part of who I am to Arthur seems...unwise. I don’t think I’m ready to face the worst. What if he jumps to conclusions? It’s my destiny to protect him.” Merlin hung his head. “What if he sees me for what I really am? I’m a monster.” He looked at his hands and felt a little water land on them.   
“This is no time for self pity Merlin, there are many who would disagree with you, even if they knew who you truly are.” He then shifted his gaze to behind Merlin. “Ah, it seems Strength has joined us.” Merlin gasped and turned round to see a gobsmacked Gwaine standing at the edge of the forest. Behind him, Kilgarrah chuckled deeply. “Good luck Merlin.” And with that, the Great Dragon took off into the sky. Sheepishly, Merlin turned back to his friend, who was approaching him slowly. To the warlock’s great relief, Gwaine’s face broke into a brilliant grin and said;  
“I knew it!”  
“What?!” Merlin said, startled.  
“I knew you were hiding something! I knew Arthur didn’t really kill the dragon!” Gwaine exclaimed happily before coming over and clapping Merlin on the back. Merlin winced at Gwaine’s very audible shout.  
“Yes,” Merlin said quietly, “But Arthur doesn’t so can we keep that between ourselves?” Merlin begged Gwaine.  
“Of course! Wow, my best friend, the last Dragonlord.” As the pair made their way slowly back to camp, Merlin allowed Gwaine to natter on about this cool new revelation while he fell silent. Soon after, Gwaine joined in, thinking hard. “That means...Balinor was your father?” Gwaine stopped and looked at Merlin.  
“Yeah, it was the first and last time I met him.” Merlin sniffed and rubbed his face before smiling at Gwaine. Gwaine smiled slowly back and then allowed his friend a moment of silence before realising that they were almost near the camp.   
“We better hurry up Merlin, don’t want the princess to worry about us.” Gwaine winked playfully at Merlin before bounding ahead like a puppy. Suddenly, he turned around and said;  
“And just so we’re clear, I don’t think you’re a monster at all Merlin.” Then beaming, Gwaine turned and jogged back into camp, leaving Merlin standing where he’d left him with an ear-splitting grin.


	4. Planning and Plotting

The next morning was a chilly one, much to the dismay of the knights. They decided to head slowly to the village so as to arrive in the early afternoon.  
“Once we get there, we’ll take a short rest before setting off.” Arthur called behind him to where the knights were sitting on their horses. He had noticed that Merlin had decided to join Gwaine at the back of the group, but had brushed it off as another thing that the manservant could now do as he ‘no longer had a job’. Said manservant was nervously trotting alongside Gwaine, hoping that his friend’s positive outlook hadn’t been tainted over night. Gwaine noticed Merlin’s silence and smiled gleefully at him before saying under his breath;  
“So, what are we to do about the dragon?”   
“You want to help?” He whispered, the beginnings of a smile growing on his face.  
“No, I’m going to lull you into a false sense of security then kill the dragon and take all the glory, then I will tell the knights that you are a dragonlord and have you burnt at the stake. After that I will take everyone to the tavern and will have lots of drinks bought for me and everyone will sing of the evils of dragons.” Gwaine took a deep breath and sneaked a glance at Merlin, who was watching him with his mouth agape. “I’m joking mate, of course I want to help.” Gwaine chuckled.  
“Is this the part where you lull me into a ‘false sense of security’?” Merlin said, but he was smiling. The pair chuckled for a while but then fell silent. “Gwaine...I honestly don’t know what to do.”  
“Merlin, we’ll think of something, there has to be a way of diverting the tracks maybe? I could cause a distraction later and you could do your cool dragonlord thing and tell the baby dragon to fly away?” Merlin shook his head sadly.  
“Aithusa is too young to fully comprehend dragonlord orders. I can call her, but then I would just be causing her more harm than good.” Gwaine sighed and stared into the distance. Suddenly he sat straight up in his seat and grinned broadly at Merlin.  
“I think I’ve got it.”  
*0*0*  
Jared met the on the outskirts of the village, before leading them to his hut.   
“Your Highness, if I may, I would like to make a suggestion.” The town leader said cautiously to Arthur.  
“Of course Jared, go on.”  
“Well, I was thinking that you and your knights should stay here until nightfall, get your strength up and so on then pursue the dragon in the dark. I understand that it would reduce visibility but the dragon is much easier to see during the evening.” The king smiled and nodded his head.  
“I understand your reasoning. That’s a very wise idea, we will set off at nightfall, thank you Jared.” Arthur turned to tell Merlin to unpack the horses when he saw the manservant whispering eagerly to Gwaine across the other side of the village, near the horses. He approached the pair confidently and caught a quick snippet of their conversation before they became aware of Arthur’s presence.  
“...if you go and to forest and then- Arthur!” Gwaine exclaimed loudly.  
“Having a nice little natter there ladies?” Arthur said teasingly, before grinning at the pair.  
“Yes thank you sire.” Merlin retorted.  
“Good, anything I should know about?” Arthur gestured between the two with a raised eyebrow.  
“No, nothing at all, Princess. Now, if you would just leave so Merlin and I could continue our ‘natter’...” Gwaine said innocently, looking at the King with doe eyes. Arthur rolled his eyes and retreated to his hut, vowing to force the subject out of Merlin later.   
“So run it by me one more time Gwaine?” Merlin looked at his companion, confused.  
“After lunch, you go into the woods, I’ll make sure nobody follows – you know what Arthur’s like – then you make false tracks, you’re a dragonlord, I’m hoping you know what they look like.”  
“Yes Gwaine.” Merlin sighed, rolling his eyes, “Okay, but how can we guarantee that any of the knights will see them?”   
“Well, if I ‘spot’ some suspicious looking tracks, then get everyone else to follow them, that would give you time to follow the actual tracks and summon the dragon and get it away from here.” Gwaine clapped his hands together and grinned.  
“Sounds like a plan.” Merlin confirmed.  
*0*0*  
“What are you thinking about?”   
Merlin seated himself next to Arthur, who was gazing out of the small window of the hut. The king had been sitting there for a while, lost in thought.  
“Hm?” Arthur glanced at Merlin before resuming his staring contest with the tree outside.  
“I said, dollophead,” Merlin drawled and elbowed Arthur in the ribs cheekily, “What’s on your mind?”  
“Do you remember Balinor?” Arthur asked abruptly. After a pause he looked at Merlin to find the young manservant staring at him incredulously. “I mean, it was a long time ago and-”  
“Yes I remember him.” Merlin said stiffly. Silence fell between them again. “He was a good man.”  
“He certainly was.” Arthur nodded in agreement. “Merlin, can I ask you something?” Arthur’s voice sounded weary and uncertain, a fact that troubled Merlin greatly.  
“Of course.”   
“I know my father found the practises of a dragonlord too closely related to magic to be allowed to carry on, but, sometimes I can’t help but think...he was wrong?” Arthur took a deep breath. “I mean, dragons are ferocious creatures, and now there are no more dragonlords to control them they will have to be eliminated. But maybe, if my father hadn’t killed them in the Great Purge, they could have aided Camelot in some way.” Merlin gazed at his king, a guarded expression decorating his face. He had heard Arthur teetering on the edge of accepting magic, bit by bit, before, and was no longer letting himself accept it. It hurt too much when something went wrong.  
“I think...they could have been powerful allies.” Merlin said quietly. Arthur nodded, and said;  
“We could do with some powerful allies like that.” Arthur said sadly. “It’s funny. When I was younger, I always thought that my father’s word was law. Now I wonder how many other mistakes he made.” Arthur sighed and stood up, brushing off his trousers and holding a hand to aid Merlin. The manservant took the hand and heaved himself up.  
“Better be going for lunch then.” Arthur said with a smirk, all thoughtfulness forgotten. “Wouldn’t want my little girl of a manservant to starve now would we?” The young king grinned at his fellow.  
“’Former manservant’ actually sire.” Merlin chuckled. “Actually, I’m just going for a walk, I’ll be back in a bit.”  
“I’ll come with you,” Arthur offered, “I could do with a walk myself.”   
“No, no, you go for lunch. I’m fine.” Merlin said quietly then strode out of the hut, leaving a bemused Arthur behind. As he left, Merlin shifted his gaze to the blue sky outside and pulled his jacket tighter around him. Funny, He thought soberly, how something can look so warm but turn out so cold.


	5. A Dragon's Apporach

“Any sign of it yet?”  
King Arthur yelled to his knights, most of whom were shuffling about in the undergrowth, looking for the devilish dragon. Gwaine, aware that Merlin had carried out the final touches of their plan, was constantly trying to catch his friend’s eye but failing to. Merlin however was doing just fine making sure the knights went in the right direction, playing the part of terrified manservant flawlessly by directing them to ‘a sound he heard in that bush over there’ or ‘that flash of white behind the tree’.  
“Arthur, I swear I just saw it.” He pointed to an area that looked in the general direction that he had been going in only hours earlier. “Seriously...it is white isn’t it?”  
“Merlin. Last time you ‘just saw it’ it turned out to be a rabbit. The time after that it was a leaf. Now what can we gather from that?” Arthur said mockingly, but his exhaustion and frustration was playing on his nerves, making his comment come out harsher than he intended.  
“Calm down Princess, unless you’ve got any better ideas I’d say we’re better off following a potential sighting instead of none at all.” Gwaine patted Arthur on the back before following Merlin, closely pursued by Elyan, Leon and Percival, who were all giving Arthur sympathetic – but completely respectful – looks.  
“You’ll watch your tone Sir Gwaine.” Arthur grumbled before following his knights, who he should be leading, not Merlin thank you very much. A mumble of incoherent agreements were heard in response, which only proved further that the knights were not listening to him. After about a minute’s walk, the group found themselves in another dense part of forest that looked in no way different to the rest of it. Growling in irritation, Arthur called to his knights,  
“Okay, spread out in this area, if we find nothing, we’ll stop for a break. And no Gwaine, that doesn’t mean you can pretend to find nothing just so you can sit down and have a drink. Yes I do know that’s not water in your waterskin.” Arthur said the last few sentences with amusement and fondness, rather than anger. A mock cry of annoyance came from Gwaine’s general direction and the other knights chuckled dryly.  
Merlin spotted the tracks he’d made not too far off from him then coughed loudly to attract Gwaine’s attention. This failed.  
“Gwaine.” He hissed, the last thing he needed now was for the other knights to realise he’d found them, that was beyond suspicious. No reply. “Gwaine.” He repeated. Suddenly, the knight perked his head up from the bush he was investigating – what on earth does he expect to find there? Some of the knights had thought when they cast a brief glance at him. – and grinned comically to Merlin. The manservant gestured vaguely in the direction of the tracks before staring at him pointedly to make sure it got the idea. Gwaine winked in response the darted off into the undergrowth. Attempting to look inconspicuous, Merlin strode over to join Percival in staking out behind a rather large branch.  
What’s taking him so long?  
Suddenly, there was a cry of;  
“Over here!” In Gwaine’s voice and everybody pounced up and joined their fellow. Once they had all arrived at their destination, they huddled around and gazed at the dragon tracks in the mud.  
“Good job Gwaine.” Leon grinned and thumped him affectionately on the shoulder.  
“To the east!” Arthur announced, and lead the way, marching triumphantly threw the trees. Gwaine waited until everyone had passed, receiving a few thumps of thanks by the passing knights, and took up the back to speak to Merlin.  
“I’ve got to say Merlin, those tracks are remarkable. Wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference myself. And it certainly fooled Arthur and the others.” Gwaine beamed at Merlin and threw an arm around his best friend’s shoulder. Much to his confusion, Merlin shrugged the sign of affection off and glared at Gwaine. Worried he hadn’t given enough praise to his under-appreciated friend, Gwaine said, “They are brilliant tracks Merlin.”  
“Yeah they are aren’t they? Shame they’re the real ones.” Merlin said through gritted teeth.  
“Yes I thought as- Wait what?” Gwaine did a double take and missed an approaching low hanging branch, resulting in him landing unceremoniously on the forest floor, Merlin kneeling awkwardly next to him, having been dragged down himself.  
“Get a move on you two, Merlin’s bad enough, I don’t need two bumbling fools.” Arthur called from the front, before calling the group to a halt. Meanwhile, Merlin was grudgingly pulling Gwaine to his feet.  
“Not one of your best moments.” Merlin pointed out.  
“You’ll need to specify, my friend, on what particular moment. The moment where I walked into a tree or where I accidentally doomed an innocent dragon by picking the wrong blasted tracks?” Gwaine said angrily, more to himself than to Merlin. The manservant shot him a look that could’ve either been amusement or downright annoyance.  
The pair stayed silent for a while before the entire group came to an abrupt halt, much unbecoming of a group of Camelot’s finest considering they all used each other as stopping blocks and almost became dominoes. Slowly, they began to advance again before they entered a huge clearing, littered with dead leaves. Cautiously, they all filed into the clearing and took shelter behind a huge tree trunk that was as wide as it was long. It was very long.  
“Look.” Arthur pointed to the far side of the clearing, where, dancing and skipping about, Aithusa was. Gwaine nudged Merlin, and the manservant turned to see a face filled with wonder, reflected in each of the knight’s faces.  
“It’s beautiful.” Percival whispered. The knights all nodded in agreement, all accept Arthur.  
“That it is Percival, but looks can be deceiving, and none is more so than a dragon.” The king said quietly, almost regretfully. “It pains me to know that I must destroy such a beautiful creature, but it is a certain danger for Camelot, so it is my duty.” Elyan, who was kneeling beside Gwaine, could swear he heard Merlin say,  
“Unicorn.” In between a cough.  
Slowly and dangerously, Arthur pulled out the crossbow and set an arrow balanced, poised ready to strike like a snake. Aithusa had slowly started to walked closer towards them, making herself a rather easy target. Gwaine could feel Merlin’s pulse racing as he gripped tightly to Gwaine’s upper arm. The all held their breath as Arthur pulled back the string and...  
“STOP!”


	6. Our Duty

“STOP!”  
Arthur had just enough time to fling his crossbow upwards, launching the arrow up into the sky as Merlin pounced directly in front as Arthur.   
“What. Are. You. Doing?!” Arthur hissed, then glanced behind Merlin to the dragon who was now well-aware of their presence. Merlin put his hands up in front of him and stepped backwards.  
“Don’t do this Arthur, you don’t need to kill the dragon.” Merlin said calmly. “It’s only a baby.” Arthur sighed and the anger seemed to disappear from his form.  
“Merlin, I know it must be hard for you, but you remember the damage the Great Dragon did to Camelot once it was released? This dragon,” He gestured to Aithusa who was watching the group curiously, “may be innocent now, but it will grow to destroy.”  
“You’re wrong!” Merlin shouted. “Can you honestly blame the Great Dragon for what he did?” The knights’ eyebrows shot up and Arthur glared icily at his manservant.  
“Are you suggesting that Camelot deserved its fate?” He snarled, anger returning.  
“No.” Merlin suddenly looked sad and older than his years. He slumped and looked at the ground before returning his gaze to his king, his eyes wise. “The Great Dragon was the last of his kind. Your father, King Uther, slaughtered all of his kind then ordered for him to be chained down.” The other knights looked down shamefully. “If you were the last of your kind, captured and chained up by the very person who killed everyone you knew, how else would you react once you got the chance?”  
Arthur’s cold resolve shook slightly before returning to his kingly attitude.  
“Merlin, I do understand what your trying to say but-” Merlin shook his head bitterly, “this dragon is still a danger to Camelot.”  
“What of Balinor then? He wasn’t evil, or cruel, or a danger to Camelot. He was going to help us! He could’ve helped us make peace with the dragons,” The young warlock laughed weakly, “better still, he could’ve ordered the dragons to protect Camelot instead of attack it!” Merlin’s eyes began to fill.  
“Yes, you’re right, having a dragonlord on our side would’ve been very beneficial, but Balinor was the last one and now he is dead.” Arthur stated.  
“BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID FATHER!” Merlin roared. “If your father hadn’t been so uptight about magic, hadn’t condemn so many innocents in his battle against the Old Religion, maybe there would be peace in the kingdom, instead of hatred and danger!” Gwaine felt his own eyes trickle slightly at this heartfelt speech. Merlin was almost in tears himself, pleading his master. “You’re not your father, Arthur, please see sense.”  
Arthur shook with anger and balled his hands into fists.   
“You dare insult my father, the greatest king Camelot has ever seen? You dare doubt his beliefs?” The young king’s voice was cold, his eyes steely. “Magic, Merlin, is evil and can do nothing but harm. The same goes for dragons and their lords. My father did Camelot a service by destroying them.” Without the group noticing, Aithusa had wondered over to Merlin and peeked around his legs.  
“Merlin, get away from the dragon, it’s not safe. You can talk about this later.” Leon said calmly, holding a hand out to the manservant.   
“No.” Merlin snapped, “Why should I?” Arthur’s eyes widened and Leon took a step back. Elyan was the next to speak.  
“C’mon Merlin mate, get away from the dragon.”  
“Dragons are evil Merlin, they must be destroyed. It is my duty to do so.” Arthur said.  
“Over my dead body.” Merlin spat.  
“What has gotten into you?” Arthur said incredulously.  
“No Arthur. What has gotten into you?” Merlin sighed. “You never used to be like this, I always believed you would be a better king than your father...maybe I was wrong.”  
That hurt Arthur a lot more than he expected. Merlin was always the one encouraging him, telling him how good of a king he was destined to be. To have the one person with an unlimited amount of faith in him to just, give up on him, hurt a lot more than he cared to admit.  
“It is my duty to protect Camelot.” Arthur said, more to himself than to anyone else, and then knelt down to pick up his crossbow. Gwaine’s eyes widened with the realisation of what he was about to do.  
“And it is mine to protect the dragon.” Merlin said quietly, before lowering his head, accepting his fate. Arthur raised the crossbow in Merlin’s direction before stopping and saying,  
“What?”   
All eyes turned to the king, as Arthur lowered the crossbow with a bemused look on his face. Merlin’s head shot up hopefully at the lack of anger in his master’s voice. “It’s not your duty...” Arthur lost all the colour in his face and gaped unabashedly at his manservant.  
“I am the last dragonlord. Balinor was my father. It is my duty to him and to my kind to protect them.” Merlin said. His voice was quiet, but it rung with honour and pride much alike to Arthur’s when he would announce he was king of Camelot. The king stared at Merlin, mouth hanging open in shock.  
“When you look at me Arthur, do you see evil? A danger to Camelot? Have I ever done you or Camelot any harm?”  
Arthur shook his head slowly. Merlin’s voice turned pleading.  
“Then say something!”   
“You’re...you’re a dragonlord.” Arthur finally commented. Merlin rolled his eyes.  
“Well at least I know you’ve been listening.” He said, weakly, a small attempt to return to their usual insulting. Arthur seemed to come back to himself and stood up.   
“You’re a dragonlord.” This time, there was anger - and maybe even a little fear – in Arthur’s voice. Without thinking, the king jumped over the branch and strode over to his manservant, eyes filled with fire. In one fluid motion, his fist made contact with Merlin’s jaw and sent him stumbling backwards. Next thing Arthur knew, he was being held back by Percival and Elyan while he shouted obscenities at the manservant on the ground. Leon bent over to inspect Merlin while Gwaine glared angrily at the king. Meanwhile, Aithusa creeped slowly towards his master’s attacker, glaring venomously at him. Seemingly realising what Aithusa was about to do, Merlin sat bolt upright and shouted,  
“Aithusa, no!” All the shouting came to a sudden halt as all eyes turned to the angry baby dragon standing protectively in front of Merlin, preparing to attack Arthur. Merlin’s shouting seemed to have no effect however, as Aithusa just growled in response and approached Arthur. Merlin then jumped up and roared,  
“O drakon, e mala soi ftengometh tesd'hup anankes! Erkheo!”  
This seemed to have an effect on the small dragon, as he crouched down and scarpered back to Merlin, his tail metaphorically between his legs. The knights and Arthur all stumbled back in shock, feeling the full power radiating from their friend as he bellowed into the sky. Once he had stopped, Gwaine let out a low whistle.  
“That, Merlin, was what I like to call impressive.” A weak bout of laughter came from the knights while Arthur just gazed at Merlin.  
“What did you just do?”   
Merlin ignored Arthur, turned to Aithusa and waved a finger at him like a scolding mother.  
“You’re in big trouble now.”  
“Merlin, what did you do?” Arthur repeated.  
“I summoned his..ah..guardian. For lack of a better word.” Merlin shrugged sheepishly, before raising a hand to his jaw and rubbing it, wincing slightly. Arthur noticed this however and slumped in his knights’ grip.  
“Sorry I hit you.”  
“S’okay. Sorry I shouted at you.”  
The knights all rolled their eyes at the pair’s reluctant conversation.  
“You just saved my life.” Arthur pointed out. “With Dragonlord magic.”  
“Yeah I did.” Merlin said, smiling slightly. “Bet you’re eating your words now.” He said cheekily. Arthur opened his mouth to retaliate when a huge thumping was heard. Merlin turned around just in time to see Kilgarrah landing in the clearing.  
“You called, Merlin?”  
“I did.” Merlin gestured to Aithusa, who was attempting to climb up Merlin. “Aithusa has been wondering about, giving the nearby villagers a bit of a fright. And causing me a lot of trouble.” Merlin said, resuming his ‘mother-hen’ voice.  
“What would you like me to do?” Kilgarrah turned to Aithusa and gazed at him, his expression unreadable.  
“Merlin.” Arthur growled suddenly. Merlin turned around, having forgotten about his friends behind him.  
“Urm, yes sire?”   
“That, is the Great Dragon.” Arthur stated, pointing at Kilgarrah, who was watching with a rather amused expression.  
“Yes it is sire.”   
“The dead one.”  
“Not quite sire.”   
“I can see that.”  
“If I may interrupt, Merlin?” Kilgarrah cut in, interrupting another fight. He then turned to Arthur. “Young Pendragon. Merlin spared me on the night you were led to believe you killed me. I swore not to attack Camelot ever again. If it is any comfort at all, I am in your service.” The dragon lowered his head in a bow to the king. Arthur, on the other hand, looked rather shocked.  
“Th-th-thank you, urm...what should I call you? Do..I mean, do dragons have...names?” Arthur asked sheepishly. Kilgarrah roared in laughter.  
“A fine day it is when a Pendragon asks for the name of a dragon. You may call me Kilgarrah.”  
“Well, thank you Kilgarrah.” Arthur straightened.  
“I need you to look after Aithusa a little while longer. At least until I can find some time to properly train him.” Merlin said to Kilgarrah.  
“Of course Merlin.”  
“Thank you.”  
A little while later, after Kilgarrah and Aithusa had left, Merlin found himself sitting around a camp fire with Gwaine on one side and Percival on another. Both seasoned travelers, it was easiest for them to come to terms with Merlin’s identity and were getting into lengthy discussions over dragons with Merlin. Well, Gwaine was, Percival was just looking rather amused and nodding a lot. Elyan was slowly getting more involved, though at first he had been cautious of Merlin, still remembering the event with the druid boy.   
Slowly, Arthur got up from the campfire and silence fell.  
“I’m just going for a walk. I won’t be long.”  
“Shall I come with you?” Merlin asked.  
“No.” Arthur turned and strode away into the woods. Noticing Merlin’s hurt expression, Leon perked up and said comfortingly;  
“It’ll take him a while to get used to this Merlin, give him time.”  
Slowly Merlin lowered his gaze to the fire and nodded.   
He’d give his king as much time as he needed.


	7. Epilouge

“Merlin, stop pacing for god’s sake, you’re not going into battle.”   
Leon shook his head accusingly at the manservant who was striding nervously from one side of the room to the other. The sun was high in the sky outside, lighting up a beautiful spring afternoon in Camelot – not that Merlin had noticed of course.  
“Then why do I feel like it?!” Merlin hissed indignantly, halting and spinning to stare at his companion. Leon placed a hand on the manservant’s shoulder comfortingly.  
“Merlin, I understand how this may feel to you, but Arthur needs your help now. With Morgana’s army approaching, he needs more than just man power.”  
“But we haven’t spoken about my...” Merlin flapped his hands about, involuntarily swatting at Leon, “...Dragonlord...ness since he found out! I was beginning to think he’d forgotten!”  
“But he hasn’t, has he? Merlin, this is a good step. He’s acknowledging your power, he wants your assistance.”  
“He wants me to talk about dragons in front of the whole battle council!” Merlin wailed hopelessly.   
“The whole battle council that consists of me, Gwaine, Elyan, Percival, Gaius, Her Majesty the Queen and Arthur. You’ve got nothing to be worried about!” Said Leon incredulously. Merlin opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by the sound of the council room doors opening and the knights pouring in. Leon gave him a sharp tug that directed him to stand behind his seat, and then followed him. Gwaine appeared beside Merlin and gave him a cocky grin, while the others took their places at the round table.  
“Please sit.” Arthur instructed the people around the table.   
And a few moments of scraping afterwards, the council had begun. 

“See!” Elyan said, thumping Merlin’s back, yelling over the din of the ‘Rising Sun’ pub later on that evening. “That went brilliantly!”  
“Told ya it would be fine Merlin.” Leon chuckled, watching the manservant over the table. Minutes later, Gwaine appeared at the table, hands laden with tankards for the knights and their companion.   
“I would like to make a toast.” Gwaine said seriously, and Merlin saved that thought to memory of the one few times Gwaine had been serious in the face of mead. “To Merlin, our resident Dragonlord, manservant and most of all, friend. To Merlin!” Cheers echoed around the table and soon chatter broke out amongst the group. Merlin soon found himself being manhandled into a back breaking hug by Gwaine, as the charming knight plopped down beside him.   
“Don’t have any other secrets you’ve been keeping from us eh?” Gwaine said jokingly, and Merlin knew he was kidding but that didn’t stop him from stuttering nervously.  
“I.....um...well....I can juggle?”  
The table erupted with roars of laughter.  
“Pull the other one mate; you can’t even catch the things Arthur throws at you.” Percival chortled. The manservant huffed but couldn’t keep his angry facade up and his face cracked in a blissfully happy grin. That night was one of the best Merlin could ever remember, even when he found himself dragging a soon-to-be-hung-over Gwaine back to his chambers. Just before he left the snoozing knight in peace, he whispered,  
“Thanks Gwaine.” To the unexpected reply of,   
“All in a day’s work mate.” Merlin chuckled and went to shut the door before he was stopped by Gwaine’s slightly slurred voice, “Merlin?”  
“Yes Gwaine?”  
“Could you possibly arrange for me to fly on Kilgarrah?”


End file.
